Taxi Science

They say bartenders are amateur therapists – the same could also be said for taxi drivers.

Andrew Njanjo is from Cameroon and he has been living in London since 1994. Since 1996 he has been driving a taxicab around London, lending an ear, offering advice and being privy to all sorts of conversations. He describes how his own character and personality have been affected, sometimes profoundly, by the experience of sharing his life with the thousands of strangers who have been passengers in his cab.

Taxi Science is a memoir, but it is so much more as it tells through rich and varied stories how Andrew Njanjo’s attitudes towards race, religion, politics and gender both developed, and changed. The stories themselves are everything from sad, maybe desperate, often illuminating and heartwarming, hilarious, or triumphant even, as in the case of the seemingly racist, French-speaking passengers who didn’t consider their driver’s language abilities, and they illustrate the deep impact the driver and the passenger have on each other.

Passengers often treat a taxi driver as a therapist so there is always the risk of becoming drawn into the client’s life; sometimes it is unavoidable. Taxi Science explores with honesty, integrity, and humour, how this can happen and assesses what such an intimate relationship can mean for both parties.